I have to admit that I'm not actually all that much of a fan of Jackie Chan. While I'm sure this statement will send martial arts fans whirling into a frenzy, rating every movie I ever review 'Not Helpful', but I just don't plain enjoy many of the guy's movies. It's not like Jet Li, where I think the guy himself is poor, I actually find Chan quite a likeable screen presence, and it's often his movies most redeeming feature, I just don't enjoy many of his films. They often verge too far into slapstick, and while I realise that appeals to some people, I'm really not one of them.

So with that said, you may wonder why I bought Master with Cracked Fingers in the first place? basically because the DVD cost £1, and I figured it would pass some time. I actually bought it in December 04, and I've only just got around to watching it now, in August 05, so you can probably tell it wasn't a movie I prioritised in terms of importance of watching, and the truth is I only stuck it on because I wanted to see something fairly simple, yet entertaining when I got in late from work one night.

This was Chan's first starring role, although he had done some cameo work in other movies, and he hadn't even adopted the name Jackie Chan yet, here he is credited as Chan Yuan Lung, with, oddly enough, his character being named Jackie Chan.

The movie opens as two men try to leave a sect of assassins in ancient China. One of the men tells the other to escape and look after his son, while he tries to stay and fight the evil Boss(Kuen Wing-Man - Kung Fu Zombie), unsuccessfully and is slain.

We then jump a few years, and the boy's son Jackie has been raised by the man, who forbids him from taking up the martial arts. However, the young boy soon stumbles upon a mysterious old master(Siu Tien Yuen - Drunken Master) who lives in the woods, and agrees to train Jackie in Kung Fu, on the grounds that they both keep it secret.

As the years go by, Jackie is now a young man who is very proficient in the martial arts, but is still forbidden from using them by his father. However, when a bunch of local heavies start getting rough around the village, Jackie puts them down with his awesome fighting skills. when his father finds out about him fighting, he punishes him, but the situation does not get any better, as now the thugs have a vendetta against Jackie, and constantly try to beat him up, and constantly lose, yet still lead to him being punished by his father.

However, it turns out that the thugs are in league with the evil Assassin boss, who, upon learning Jackie's identity, sends his men to kill Jackie's father. Now spurred on by not only his sense of justice, but also revenge, Jackie sets out to bring down the evil Assassin and all his goons once and for all.

Truth be told, Master with Cracked Fingers is a pretty by-the-numbers Kung Fu movie from the 1970s. This was before Chan made a name for himself for combining comedy with Kung Fu, and therefore the movie isn't overflowing with humour, and really is a pretty standard Kung Fu movie, not exactly miles away from the slop Godfrey Ho directed.
In an even more Ho-esque move, the movie is not all it seems. Originally made in 1971 as The Little Tiger from Canton, the movie faded into obscurity pretty quickly, which is quite understandable, given how generic and formula Kung Fu following it is. However, when Chan made it big later in the decade, additional footage of Siu Tien Yuen fighting a corrupt landlord was filmed, as was some of a double standing in for Chan, not to mention some footage of his other films spliced in as well. To it's credit, I have to admit that I didn't find it completely noticeable,and the film doesn't seem like it was actually a jigsaw of sources, it just seems like it isn't all that good. The new scenes tried to incorporate more humour, with the landlord character being a klutz, and the Master farting in his face, but it really failed to do anything for me other than puzzle me, with it's Popeye references.

One thing I feel I have to point out is, and maybe this was down to the dubbing, just how much the Master seemed like a paedophile to begin with. He instructs Jackie, then a young boy, to meet him at the woods at night, and not tell anyone. When he gets there, he instructs the boy to get naked and climb in a sack. While this does turn out to be part of his training, it was a bit of a "WTF?" moment, and not the movie's only one, as there is far too much chemistry between Chan and his sister going on(although given that Jackie was adopted, it kind of makes that one less sick)

Acitng in the movie is pretty non-descript, and through one of those horrible dubbing jobs afforded to 70s movies it's almost pointless talking about it anyway. The Landlord takes the stock English accent in this movie, in case you were wondering, although the film doesn't overflow with bad dialogue dubbed in, it still certainly sounds like your standard 70s dubbing job.

The one thing that does shine through the dubbing, is that Chan does have a likeable personality and screen presence. Even playing a role as generic and uninteresting as Jackie is, and through the dubbing, it's still possible to tell that the guy had some star quality.

The Kung Fu on show is pretty cool, entertaining and acrobatic, but it does get pretty dull watching Jackie fight the same 3 guys over and over, and the last fight, one filmed with the Chan-stand in, wearing a blindfold so you can't tell it's him, is pretty boring to be honest. Come to think of it, the movie doesn't sport any majorly memorable action sequences, but what it does, it does do well enough to never grow boring.

The soundtrack of the Western version of the movie is quite comical, thieving the Popeye theme, as well as the soundtrack for The Sorceror, neither of which fit a 70s Kung Fu movie any better than you would expect.

At the end of the day, it's very possible to skip Master with Cracked Fingers and not miss out on much. It will be of interest to Chan's fans just to see him in one of his first starring roles, but don't expect a classic by any means. To general fans of old Kung Fu movies, while the film still isn't great, it is watchable, and Chan makes for a good hero, something which escaltes it above drivel like Revenge of the Drunken Master, but it isn't really all that high up the pecking order in any other aspect.
I am going to recommend the film, it's of interest to enough people, and it isn't exactly a chore to watch, but just don't go expecting anything all that great out of it, this is purely a time passer.

Year: 1971
Titles: Guang dong xiao lao hu
Master with Cracked Fingers
Little Tiger from Canton
Snake Fist Fighter

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day